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The Cincinnati Reds' failure lies with the players, not the manager

Posted on by Vanessa
The Cincinnati Reds' failure lies with the players, not the manager

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The most vocal leader in the Cincinnati Reds locker room blamed himself and his teammates for everything that went wrong this season, saying the manager was not to blame for the poor performances.

“Everyone in this room knows that the guys in this locker room have not played well when you look at what's happened this year,” catcher Luke Maile said the day before manager David Bell was fired a week before the end of the season. “And I'm at the top of the list.

“We didn't play well enough to achieve what we could have achieved and so we have to answer a lot of questions about whether they are the right players, all those things that are being asked,” said the CovCath graduate. “But if you talk to any of those players in that room, I would expect them to say that this was the right squad that was struggling with injuries and the guys we put out there just didn't play at a high enough level.”

On the other hand, if it is the right roster, it is the job of the manager and coaching staff to manipulate that roster to win, especially when the pitchers' performances are among the best in the major leagues for most of the season.

The Reds have not won a game since May 1st.

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“Managers always get criticized. And that's part of their job,” Maile said. “But what they can't do, I can tell you. The players have to make the plays. You have to play at a really high level for six months to beat some of the best teams in the league. We just didn't do that. It's as simple as that.”

In fact, the Reds beat some of the best teams in the league, sweeping the Yankees and Astros and winning season series against the Phillies and Dodgers.

But persistent performance deficiencies, especially in the field and on the bases, contributed to a 15-27 record in one-point games – a record that is only good because they have won four of their last five games by one point.

They lost another 14 games by two runs.

Maile acknowledged that the lack of execution was marked by persistent failures on fundamental issues throughout the season and the responsibility for this lies with the leadership.

“But I think that leadership role lies with me,” he said. “I think that leadership role lies with (veteran Jonathan) India — with any of the guys that lead on this team — as well as the coaches. It's a two-way street.”

Bell, in his sixth season as manager, had three successful seasons, never winning more than 83 games and reaching the playoffs once (during the pandemic-shortened but playoff-expanded 2020 season).

During this tenure, he oversaw an early start to the competition last year with a wave of promising newcomers.

“You always know there are going to be growing pains with young players,” Maile said. “That's going to be part of it.”

“I don't think it's just the lack of fundamentals that's putting us 10 1/2 games behind now,” he said. “But I think if you want to win between the numbers, that's a big part of the game that makes your life a lot easier if you don't hit or don't throw well, which is going to happen. I fully expect that to improve.”

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